Machine for



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALONZO C. ARNOLD, OF NORVALK, CONNECTICUT.

MACHINE FOR FORMING AND HARDENING HAT-BODIES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 18,316, dated October 6, 1857.

To all Lo/wm may concern:

Be it known that I, A. C. ARNOLD, of Norwalk, in the county of Fairfieldand State of Connecticut, have invented certain. new and usefulImprovements in Machinery for Forming and Hardening Hat-Bodies; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,making a part of this specification, in whichl Figure 1 is a side viewof my improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the same. Fig. 3 is avertical sect-ion of the exhaust box, double cylinder, and cone, takenin the line of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of my improvement.

Similar letters of reference indicate cor responding` parts in theseveral figures.

This invention has two distinguishing features. The first relates to theformation of the bat or body of the hat, and the second to the method ofhardening it.

The first consists in the adaptation of different portions of aperforated cone situated over an exhaust, successively, to an ordinarybut concentrated blast of air created by a picker cylinder in which thefibers of fur are suspended so that although the fur is blown againsta.portion of the cone only, still it is by an adjustable, alternating,vertical, and positive motion of the cone, deposited over the entiresurface and with precisely such variations as to quantity on givenportions of the cone as may be required to make a perfect hat, or as themanufacturer may desire. This has not been, and cannot be, done withequal certainty by any device now known or in use; and it is effected byadding to the picking machine and exhaust box in common use a revolving,adjustable, heart-shaped cam and a lever, and sundry incidental andauxiliary parts, by means of which the cone receives a graduated,vertical, alternating motion, during the formation of the bat for thehat, accelerated or retarded by the form of the cam, or the applicationof a hand lever, so as to increase or diminish the quantity of furdeposited upon particular portions of the surface of the cone, asdesired.

The second feature of my invention con sists in the arrangement of theseveral de vices employed in the operation of hardening the hat.

The above results are effected by applying the outer cone, as soon assufficient fur is deposited on the inner one, locking the two together,and lplacing them in an inverted perforated cone or disk, and theresubjecting them to a rapid revolving motion, and jets of steam from apipe, having numerous apertures, extending into the disk.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

The construction of the machine may be readily understand from a briefdescription of its several parts and their use, referring to thedrawings and the letters of reference thereon.

A represents a rectangular frame, placed on a bed or platform A1, andsupporting the picking and blowing devices.

B is the picker cylinder, which is driven by a belt (l) from the drivingshaft E.

B1 is the chamber within which the picker cylinder is placed; saidchamber being of taper form and having a narrow eduction orifice B11, anopening for the admission of air being allowed underneath the pickercylinder.

C is a feed roller which is placed directly opposite a shell and rotatedby a belt (2) from the shaft E.

D is a feed apron placed horizontally on the upper part of the frame A,and arranged in the usual way.

E, is the driving or power shaft on which several pulleys are placed,viz, the pulley F which, through the medium of av belt (3), drives a fanshaft the pulley G which, by means of the belt (l) before referred to,drives the picker cylinder, and also a pulley H which, by means of belt(2) drives the feed roller C and also, by means of gearing (4) (t), thefeed apron D.

I is a shaft having its bearings on the girts of the frame A; and J is aheartshaped cam placed on said shaft, and L is a worm wheel also onshaft I.

N, is a shaft on which is placed a pulley O, around which a belt (5)passes from the driving shaft E. A pulley P is also placed 0n the shaftN; said pulley having a belt (6) passing around it, which drives a screwM, that gears into the worm wheel L, and communicates motion to theshaft I. A pulley Q is also placed on the shaft N, and a belt (7 aroundit; said belt communicating motion to a screw which is placed within anexhaust box (a) hereinafter described.

R is a shaft one end of which is fitted in a permanent bearing (8), andthe opposite end has its bearing in an adjustable lever V, the lower endof which is pivoted to the frame A. A pulley S is placed on shaft R,which pulley, when pressed against pulley Gr by means of lever V and arod Z, rotates the shaft R. A pulley T is also placed on the shaft R;said pulley having a belt (9) passing around it, which belt rotates adisk U, U1, are levers by which vertical motion is communicated by thecam J, to the upright shaft (CZ) and the revolving disk (c) on which thecone (Z) is placed.

W is a hand lever connected with the lever U1, to enable the attendantto hold the cone inany desired position.

X is another hand lever, moved by the lift-ing rod Y, to elevate thedisk (-m) under the steam pipe, (t) when it is desired to let the jetsof steam into the revolving cones.

The exhaust box (a) is divided through the center by a partition inwhich there is an opening for the passage of the air. In one part ofthis box, the screw (f), previously referred to, is placed, and a wormwheel (g) intowliich the screw (f) gears; the wheel (g) being supportedby the brackets The shaft- (CZ) passes through the center of the wheel(g) said shaft being connected with said wheel by means of a feather andgroove, so that a vertical movement is allowed the shaft which at thesame time may be rotated by the wheel. The shaft (j) has a fan (7c)placed on it, by which the exhaust is produced.

b, is a cylinder placed upon the box (a) the upper portion slidingeasily within the lower one, and having a disk (c) attached, upon whichthe cone (Z) is placed and rotated. To the upper end of each cylinder aflanch (10) is attached, between which a collar (al) is fitted for t-hepurpose of holding a packing of india-rubber or other suitable materialto prevent the ingress of air between the two cylinders. The uprightshaft rests upon an adjustable step (e) and is connected at its upperend with the arms of the disk and serves to rotate as well as elevatethe cone which is placed upon the disk.

(m) is an inverted conical perforated cone, resting upon the end of anupright shaft which is supported by brackets (p, 20,) attached to asleeve (r) sliding on a stationary upright shaft (g). The shaft (n)rotates readily in the brackets (y) p), and has a pulley upon it, whichis connected by ay band with a pulley T, on the shaft R. The sleeve andits attached brackets and cone are elevated by the lever X, and itsconnections, at pleasure, so as to bring the revolving cones under thesteam pipe (t). This steam pipe is connected with a small boiler (o) andhas a valve (u) and numerous small perforations through that part of itaround which the revolving cones are ele vated to permit the escape ofthe steam within the cones when the valve (u) is opened.

The operation is as follows: The fur is spread upon the feed apron andfed to the feed roller, and by that to the picker cylinder. By thispicker cylinder, it is separated and suspended in the blast which thepicker cylinder creates in connection with the air which enters thechamber through the opening beneath the cylinder. The blast thuscreated, with the fur suspended in it, passes out at the opening B11,and carries the fibers of fur on to the revolving cone where they areheld firmly by the exhaust. At every revolution of the cone, it isalternately ascending or descending, so that a new portion of the coneis presented to the blast. But as the perfection of t-he hat, as well asthe increased size of the cone, requires that the blast should bedirected for a longer period upon the base of the cone, the cam is soshaped and adjusted that the vertical motion is retarded when that endof the cone is presented to the blast, and accelerated when the upperand smaller end is so presented, and also when a less quantity of fur isrequired. lVhen a large cone is required to be used and a. large hatmade, the connecting rod between the levers U, U1, is adjusted at theextreme ends of those levers and the greatest throw is obtained. Andwhen a smaller cone is used, and less elevation isrequired, theconnecting rod is adjusted in the slots, at a greater or less dist-ancefrom the end of those levers, and the desired elevation obtained. Tf anincreased quantity of fur is desired in any portion of the hat, the conemay be held, vertically exposed to the blast, in the desired position,by the hand lever-lV, during one ormore half revolutions of the cam.After the desired quantity of fu'r is deposited upon the cone, the outercone is placed upon it, the two are placed together in the inverted cone(m) which is elevated by the lever X, until it surrounds the steam pipe;the steam valve is then opened, the pulley on the shaft R pressedagainst the pulley G on the main shaft, and a rapid revolving motionthus given to the cones. And thereupon the fur leaves the inner cone;and the motion of the fibers, aided by the steam and the centrifugalforce, felts and hardens the hat, which, in a very short time, is readyto be removed. The pulley S is then withdrawn from its connection withthe pulley Gr, the steam is shut off, and the inverted cone (m) islowered. The two interior cones are then successively taken out of thecone (m), and the largest or furred cone is inverted upon a t-able, andthe body, in a hardened and perfect condition, falls readily from it.

From this description of the construction and operation of my invention,it will be seen to be readily distinguishable from all others.

The use of the picking machine wit-h its feeding appendages, chamber,and blast, and the revolving cone and exhaust, the several motions bywhich they are operated, and the method of forming a hat thereby, havelong been known to the public. But ditliculties attended the process,growing out of the necessity of having a blast of sufficient volume tosurround the presented section of the cone, and of suspending the -furequally throughout the large volume of blast, in order to make a hat ofuniform thickness. Various devices have been resorted to, in order toovercome this diiiiculty and also to direct the blast equally upon thecone. Thus, Henry A. Vells, in 1846, claimed t-O have devised, andpatented, the use of a brush cylinder, to create an increased blast andsuspend the fur more effectually in it, and a method of directing theblast to and around the cone by a continued, adjustable chamber, adaptedto the inclination of the cone, and having a hood to direct the fur uponthe top of the cone. And Daniel Barnum, in 1851, claimed to havedevised, and patented, a new and useful method of increasing the blastand suspending the fur in it, by the introduction of a fan into thechamber of the picking machine, and also a method of directing theincreased blast upon the cone, in tangents, by a peculiar adjustment ofthe opening from the chamber. These devices have been but partiallysuccessful, and bodies are not now perfectly or rapidly formed by them.

My invention is of a totally different character. It contemplates noincrease of the ordinary blast, nor any device for directing it in amore perfect manner, nor at all, upon the presented section of the cone.But it dispenses with all such devices, and all necessity for them, andadapts portions of the cone, successively, to t-he ordinary blast of apicker cylinder, by positive, controllable movements; thereby exposingthe whole surface of the cone to the blast during the formation of thehat, but in horizontal sections, successively and alternately, with suchvariations in the length of time, during which particular portions arepresented to the blast, as may be necessary to vary the thickness of thehat, when such variations are desired, or to make it of perfectlyuniform thickness when required.

The distinction between that part of my invention which relates to thehardening of the hat, and all other known devices, is very obvious.While Wells hardens by the application of a wet cloth and a metalliccover, and immersion in hot water; and Barnum effects the same'object byjets of hot water, driven through the hat while forming, by the force ofhis blast; I effect it, more perfectly, by the application of thecentrifugal force attending rapid revolution, a transference of the hatfrom one surface to another, and the consequent felting of it, aided bythe well known felting assistance of jets of steam.

It is equally obvious that the principle ofA my invention, in respect tothe formation of the/hat, may be varied in its application by attachingthe lever U1, to the end of the chamber at B, giving an alternatelyvertical motion to that, or to a spout attached to it, and thusdirecting the blast upon the different portions. of the cone,successively, without any vertical motion of the cone; or that the twoapplications may be combined, by the addition of another set of leversof similar construction and arrangement, and another cam upon thecam-shaft, operating reversely, thus elevating and depressing the coneand the chamber simultaneously, but in opposite alternating directions.Inasmuch, however, as all movements 0f the chamber, or of an attachedspout, tend to interfere with a perfect and uniform suspension of theiibers of the fur in the blast, the simple device represented in themodel and drawings will be found, in practice, the most eligibleapplication of the principle of the invention. The body may also beformed, and I have contemplated its formation, by inverting the coneupon the disk, permitting it to descend within the cylinder over theexhaust, directing the blast into it from the chamber by a spout, andgiving it a controllable rapid revolution, and thus forming the body onthe inside of the cone, by the combined agency of the exhaust and ofcentrifugal force; applying, simultaneously, or subsequent to theformation of body,7 and during the continuance of the revolution, jetsof steam to assist in hardening it. By this device the body can beformed and hardened by a single operation, and with a great saving oflabor. But as a representation of the device will require a separatemodel and drawings, and by the rules of the office, it requires aseparate application, as a distinct invention, I propose to ask for aseparate pate-nt for it, as soon as the model and specifications can beprepared.

An extended notice of the advantages of this invention is unnecessary.The difficilities attending the creation of a blast of sufficient volumeto the presented surface of the entire cone and of suspending the fur init so that equal spaces shall contain equal quantities of fur, or sothat particular spaces shall contain uniformly greater quantities andthus make the hat of uniform thickness or of greater thickness Whererequired, have not been and cannot be overcome by the devices in use.The force of the blast must be limited, so as not to overcome thesuction of the exhaust; and not only will the fur not be equallydistributed in it, but the heavier and coarser fibers will settle andseparate and thus a great irregularity in the thickness of the hat, andthe quality of the fur in different portions of it, must necessarilyexist. These diiiiculties cannot attend `my invention; and by it, thefur can be placed uniformly over the entire cone, or in greaterquantities and With positive certainty on any portion of it.

I do not claim the picking machine and feeding appendages, or chamber,nor the exhaust box, nor fan, nor any of the movements for drivingeither, or revolving the cone; nor themethod of forming a hat by theiruse, but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The cam-shaft I; Worm Wheel L, cam J, levers U, U1, step (e),cylinders (ZJ), and collar (a), or their mechanical equivalents,arranged and operated substantially as described, and for the purposesset forth.

2. I further claim the 4shaft R, lever V, pulleys 4S and T, the invertedcone or disk (m), the brackets (p) (p), shaft (n), pulley (0) sleeve (r)shaft (g) lever X, and lifting rod Y, or their mechanical equivalents,arranged and operated substantially as described, and for the purposesspecified.

ALONZO O. ARNOLD.

itnesses SAML. R. P. CAMP, GEORGE A. DAVENPORT.

